Scraped Knees and Broken Barbies
by A.Treatyjh
Summary: A reporter is always looking for a hit story, even if that reporter isn't paid enough and is constantly in danger of ghost attacks. During one particularly boring story in Amity Park, Lance Thunder stumbles upon a scene that is sure to make headlines. He finds that there is two sides to everybody, including the town's infamous ghost boy.


"Good morning, Amity Park!"

The camera honed in on the blond reporter, his butter hair neatly combed to perfection.

"Lance Thunder here, bringing you local news at all hours of the day. On this fine morning, we are here to take a look at the brand new playground set up in the park."

The news man stepped slightly to the side and opened his arm in a wide gesture, revealing the shiny, cherry red swingsets, jungle gyms, and slides. Even from beyond the sandbox, the microphone could pick up squealing laughter from the new addition of the park.

"Just look at those happy kids." Lance Thunder's rich laughter filled the audio as a kid jumped from the swings and rolled in the sand. He shook the tiny grains from his hair, spraying sand over all the other kids. The squeals grew even louder as they chased him through the jungle gym.

"Oh man," Lance stepped back in front of the camera, giving his dazzling white-tooth smile. "I wish I still had that much energy." Behind him, the children slowed to a stop and stared to the sky, their game of chase instantly forgotten. "And how kind of the Richmond family to fund the building of this playground."

The camera man cleared his throat, and a thick, ringed finger appeared at the lower left side of the camera, pointing in the direction of the children; the gesture went unnoticed by the clean cut reporter.

"-we know how nice it is for the children of Amity park to have their own little paradise, and-"

"Uh, Lance?" A gruff voice from behind the camera interrupted. The reporter's brilliant smile vanished.

"What? How many times have I told you not to interrupt me, Jeff. Now we're going to have to cut this out and start over. Do you want to be here all day? I certainly don't. These kids are already giving me a headache."

"Sorry, but, uh, I think there's something wrong with the kids."

The camera zoomed past the irritated newsman and focused on the group of kids by the jungle gym, all stuck as if statues staring at something just out of the camera's view. Some clutched toys in their tiny fingers, others had their arms hung limply at their sides, but all were gazing slack jawed at the sky.

"What're they looking at?" Lance's voice broke the quiet. "Jeff, can you see?"

Before the camera man could answer, a cannonball (yes, a cannonball) shot from somewhere behind the treeline and plunged into the soft sand of the playground. Under the bright morning sun, it cast dancing green shadows on the sand. Jade wisps curled off the mottled metal and dispersed in the wind.

As if the cannonball was their cue, the flock of children screeched and vanished through the trees, back in the direction of their houses. The camera only saw sand and grass as the camera man dropped it and dove for cover, but the audio managed to pick up Lance Thunder's scream, which was arguably higher than that of the children's.

Thunder and the camera man ducked behind the shelter of a tree while two ghosts appeared over the playground, locked in an aerial battle.

"Jeff?" Thunder hissed. "Are you getting this?"

Jeff mumbled and fished his fallen camera from the ground, wiping the sand and sticky blades of grass from the lens. A blurry residue still clouded the camera's view, but after a few wipes from Jeff's shirt sleeve, the picture turned clear. Well, mostly clear.

He poked the camera around the tree and dialed the lens to focus. His eye squinted at the camera screen.

The first figure he noticed was a young boy. His floppy green hair was pressed down by a pirate hat that stood almost as tall as the boy himself. The rest of him was adorned just as ridiculously, with a fake hook for a hand and a pirate costume that could have been pulled from the clearance section of the dollar store. The other figure was a much more famous figure, within the small town of Amity Park, at least.

Danny Phantom's arms were crossed over the DP logo on his chest, and the camera's side view of his face revealed scrunched eyebrows and a deep frown. The smaller ghost in the pirate costume began gesturing with wide swings of his arms, and the infamous Danny Phantom had to dodge the point of his hook twice without the boy even noticing.

"Can you get audio?" the camera bounced as Thunder's voice shattered the quiet.

"No." Jeff grumbled. "Too far."

"Well- ahhhhh!" Lance's statement was cut off by his insanely high-pitched scream as the tree next to them suffered the glowing blow of an ectoblast, shooting splinters of bark in all directions. Jeff fumbled with the camera and switched the view to Lance's figure, curled like a kitten on the ground.

"Not the hair, not the hair!" Lance cried, picking mahogany splinters from the carefully gelled golden locks. "I do _not_ get paid enough for this!" the reporter groaned, desperately trying to stick a rebellious strand back into place.

The camera man snorted and flicked the camera's gaze back to the much disputed hero and the ghost. Phantom seemed to have the upper hand in the fight.

"What's going on, Jeff?" Lance asked, still cowering behind the tree. His arms was raised protectively above his head, keeping his manicured hair from any further damage.

"Ghosts."

"Of course it's ghosts. This is Amity Park, what else could it be?" The reporter snapped. "But _who_ , Jeff?"

"Danny Phantom."

" _And_?"

The camera jostled as Jeff lowered it to view the spectacle with his own eyes.

"That's weird." he mumbled. He raised the camera back to his eyelevel."I can only see the other ghost with the camera."

The camera focused back on the two floating figures, engaged in battle.

"What do you mean?" Lance Thunder popped into the camera's view as he scrambled to get a better look. He peeked around the tree, slowly and carefully, so that only his eyes were out in the open.

"I can't see the other ghost with my bare eyes. Only through the camera." Jeff answered, his gruff voice holding the smallest hint of curiosity.

"Well, _I_ can see him." Lance leaned just a bit farther from the shelter of the tree. "The little one in the ridiculous pirate suit."

Jeff zoomed in on the ghost with the toxic green hair.

"My son told me about a pirate ghost that only kids can see." Jeff pointed out. "Or immature adults."

"That's great, Jeff." Lance hissed, the subliminal message flying right over his head. "Now focus on filming."

A quiet snort was picked up from behind the camera before the shot was zoomed out to catch both ghostly figures in action.

In the midst of the paranormal action, a small figure emerged in the corner of the screen. A little girl, no more than five years of age, running towards the playground. Jeff let out a quiet gasp and whipped the camera towards her. What was a little girl doing in the middle of a ghost attack?

As if noticing the ghosts for the first time, her crystal blue eyes widened, mouth dropping into a tiny O. With her eyes stuck on the fight, she failed to see the stone in front of her until her foot collided with it, and the girl went tumbling to the dirt.

The camera was suddenly ripped away from the girl in a blur. When the fuzziness faded, Lance Thunder's frowning face and furrowed brows came into view.

"Jeff, keep the camera on the fight, please. Do I have to do your job too? I don't even get paid enough for my own!"

"Then get out of the shot." the camera man growled.

Lance's mouth opened and closed like a fish gulping for air. His eyes narrowed into lilac slits before slinking out of view. Jeff muttered to himself and the camera zoomed back in on Danny Phantom, who was putting the cap back on what looked like a soup thermos.

"Great, we missed it." Thunder cursed.

Phantom stuck the thermos on his belt with a side grin and shot into the air above the trees. The camera followed his graceful flight until he jerked to a stop, as if pulled back by an invisible leash. He suddenly looked down, his head cocked to the side and eyebrows scrunched together. Jeff trailed the ghost's line of sight back to the edge of the playground, where the little girl with soft blue eyes sat, clutching a broken barbie doll in one hand and her knee in the other.

Danny Phantom looked from the girl to the sky, to the girl, and to the sky again. Finally, his shoulders slouched in resignation, his body already floating down to the ground.

The camera zoomed in even closer when Danny Phantom, the disputed hero and possible villain, dropped to the dirt and sat criss-cross in front of the sobbing girl. She looked up at him, her mouth once again forming the silent O shape. His lips moved, but the camera was too far away to pick up any sound. However, the picture was still clear enough to give a crystal image of the little girl nod, her golden curls bouncing on her head.

With trembling lips, the little girl stretched her leg out towards the ghost boy, watching cautiously as tiny ice crystals formed in his palm. He said something that the camera couldn't pick up, and the girl's watering eyes widened. The tears turned to sparkles as she raised her chin and laughed.

As the blond haired girl softly shook with her giggles, Danny Phantom's hand, glowing a light blue color, pressed against the scraped skin on her knee. She nodded and something he said, and Phantom laughed along with her.

"Are you getting this?" Lance Thunder whispered.

"Shh."

The newsman grumbled, but obeyed.

With his other hand, Phantom's gloved fingers wiped the tears from the little girl's cheeks, and turned the drops into icy crystals that glittered on his fingers. The girl's eyes widened to the size of baby blue quarters. Her tiny hands clapped frantically, and the ghost boy lowered his head in a dramatic bow.

With his eyes cast to the ground, the ghost noticed the broken head of a Barbie doll by his feet. His spring-green eyes shot to the headless doll in the girl's hand, and then back to the doll's head. His playful smile fell into a frown. He picked it up as tenderly as if he was picking up an eggshell and wiped a speck of mud of its nose. The girl's giggles faded at the sight of it in his palm, the sparkles morphing back into tears. The camera zoomed in on Phantom's wide eyes as the dainty drops spilled down the girl's cheeks, leaving splotches on the lap of her pink dress.

Phantom's lips were moving again, and wisps of his snowy hair danced as he shook his head. The girl held up the Barbie doll's body and Phantom gingerly took it from her tiny hand. He gently fit the head back on, slowly tightening it until it clicked, and wiped the mud from the Barbie's painted features. He stopped to brush the little girl's shining tears away again before delicately picking out the tiny blades of grass that stuck in the Barbie's yellow hair.

With Danny Phantom's signature lopsided smile, he opened his palms to reveal the good-as-new Barbie to the blue eyed girl. Even with the distance, the camera could pick up the girl's squeal of delight as she snatched the Barbie back and clutched it to her chest. Phantom's shoulders lifted in laughter as the girl hugged the doll tightly, her mouth blubbering fast words that the camera couldn't hear.

Phantom rubbed the back of his neck and smiled just as a scream cut through the quiet like a dagger.

"ALLY!"

The camera only registered a blur as the girl's mother darted from the tree line and snatched the little girl up, moving at speeds faster than what should be possible for a middle aged woman.

"Ally, what are you doing?" the mother's shrill voice rose over the distance and filtered through the camera's microphone. She held her daughter's wrist in a death grip and dragged her away, the girl's heels leaving deep scars in the dirt as she went. Phantom hastily got to his feet and took a few steps back, holding his hands up in surrender. His mouth moved in speech, but the girl's mother cut him off with an accusing finger pointed at his chest.

Her voice could no longer be heard, but by the way Phantom seemed to shrink in on himself, the words couldn't be those of gratitude. White hair obscured his features as his gaze fell to the ground.

Ally tugged at her mother's arm, but the woman's narrow eyes and furrowed eyebrows only paid attention to the ghost boy with slumped shoulders. The girl's hands found the hem on her mother's shirt, but no matter how much she pulled at the soft fabric, her mother didn't seem to notice.

Ally's shoulders slumped as low as the berated ghost's as her mother dragged her away. Her glistening eyes darted from her mother, to the doll, to Phantom, and then back again. Her tiny mouth pressed into a thin line, eyes narrowing in a defiant squint. She twisted from her mother's grasp with the grace of a dancer and ran, her shoes kicking up mud and grass with each hurried step.

"Ally!" the mother shrieked as her daughter darted back to the ghost and wrapped her arms around his legs. Phantom stared down at the tiny girl, barely taller than his knee, that was brave enough to hug one of the most powerful specters know to Amity Park. She buried her face in his leg as the ghost gaped, glancing from the girl to her mother with eyes so wide that it was almost comical.

Little Ally pulled away with fresh tears staining her cheeks. Her mouth opened and closed wordlessly. After several failed attempts, her lips closed with a pout. She brushed her own tears away with a balled hand before shoving the Barbie doll in Phantom's open palm.

The girl turned on her heel and raced back to her gaping mom. This time, it was Ally who took the woman's hand and led her away. The mother simply followed, speechless at her daughter's actions and the ghost's reaction. She didn't try to stop her daughter as the girl glanced over her shoulder and gave her hero one last wave before disappearing behind the treeline. Then all that was left was a ghost clutching a Barbie, and two men with a camera hiding behind a tree.

The camera trained in on Phantom, who remained staring at the trees long after the little girl and her mother had vanished. His eyes eventually found their way to the Barbie. He gazed at it in his open palm, one hand rubbing the back of his neck. After what seemed like an eternity, his shoulders rose and fell in a gentle laugh, the corner of his lips curling into a soft smile.

He held the doll close to his chest and took off into the sky, disappearing far above the trees.

The abandoned playground held its breath, and not even Lance Thunder spoke for a full minute. The reporter shakily rose to his feet and brought the microphone back to his mouth, but for once, he couldn't figure out what to say. Lance cleared his throat and glanced over his shoulder at the place where the ghost hero had stood. Finally, he shook his head and smiled.

"And we thought this little town of Amity Park couldn't get any stranger."


End file.
